Family honour at stake in cup

Bristol Rovers defender Craig Hinton is determined to beat Albion on Sunday – for family honour, writes Tim Nash.

Hinton comes from a clan of Wolves fans, so it was no surprise this week when he leapt to the defence of his sister.

Catherine Hinton is head of PE at Coppice School of Performing Arts in Wednesfield, where teaching colleague Gary Smith is a staunch Baggies fan and has been ribbing her about the outcome of Sunday's FA Cup quarter-final at the Memorial Stadium.

"He hung up a banner on her desk saying 'Wembley this way' pointing to his own desk, so I've sent her a load of Rovers kit to get back at him," said Hinton.

Catherine, 32, said: "We got our own back with all the children dressing up in the Rovers kit Craig had sent up.

"They're all supporting Rovers. The interest has been amazing."

And Hinton doesn't have far to look for inspiration to beat Albion – uncle Alan, who starred for Wolves, Derby and England.

Almost exactly 45 years to the day since Hinton snr grabbed a hat-trick on the way to a 7-0 thrashing of the Baggies at Molineux, the ex-left winger prepares to watch his nephew in action for Rovers over the internet from his home in Seattle.

"Uncle Alan watches most of the games on the web and speaks to my dad Brian a couple of times a week," said Hinton jnr.

"Alan wants to see me do well and has just told me to enjoy it. He told me 'it's one game, play your hearts out and you never know what's going to happen'. But we'd certainly take 7-0!"

Hinton snr went on to be Wolves' 19-goal top scorer in the League in that 1962-63 season, and, in the Cup at least, centre-back Craig seems to have inherited the gene.

"I've scored at Fulham, Leyton Orient and Rushden and Diamonds this season, so we live in hope for another," he said.

Given the opposition, Hinton has found it difficult to escape the interest in the game as soon as the tie was drawn.

"Everyone in the village (Pattingham) and most of my mates are Wolves fans and I've been having texts from everyone saying 'you better beat them'," he said.

"So it has extra significance because it's Albion, but the greater significance is that we could be in the semi-finals of the FA Cup and back at Wembley, and that's a massive thing in anyone's career.

"We've missed out on the really big teams all the way through which has been disappointing, but hopefully we can progress from here.

"Millwall were a Championship club when they got to the final a couple of years ago, so they have proved it can be done and the fans would love it."

Although this is Rovers' first FA Cup quarter-final for half a century, the League One club are unlikely to be fazed by the big occasion.

They went to Millennium Stadium for the Johnstone Paints Trophy final last season, where they lost 3-2 to Doncaster, and then in May to Wembley, where they beat Shrewsbury 3-1 to claim promotion to League One.

"The support, especially for the big games, has been brilliant . We took 40,000 to the Millennium Stadium, 40,000 to Wembley and 7,500 to Fulham which was more fans than they had in the ground," said Hinton.

"It can be pretty deafening when the fans get behind the team, especially at the Memorial Stadium – quite intimidating.

"And we seem to do well against the bigger teams – we outplayed Derby last season and were unlucky on the day to lose the game 1-0 and we've already beaten Fulham and Southampton this season.

"So hopefully we can shine on the big stage again."

Such has been the hectic nature of Rovers' fixtures, Hinton says they haven't had time to get nervous.

But he insists they have the belief to reach the semi-finals – to help keep their campaign going.

"Everyone's relaxed – we've had that many games recently anyway, and we're the underdog so there's no pressure – we just want to give it our best shot," he said.

"We're confident of getting a result, but we know they're on fire at the moment, and if they're not a top of the Championship team, then they're a Premier League side as their results in the competition so far have proved.

"We've been trying to keep our League form going because if that dips, we could have nothing to play for."

Although £3.5m-rated Luke Moore is cup-tied, Hinton will be facing two of goal-happy trio Kevin Phillips, Roman Bednar and Ishmael Miller in Sunday's showdown.

Hinton believes the attacking riches Albion can boast shows the gulf between the two clubs – but stressed it's a concern best ignored.

"They've got four quality strikers and you would take any one of them – these clubs are a million miles away from us with their wage bills, but this is the FA Cup and that's what makes the Cup," he said.

"We got a result against Fulham then got them back to our place and beat them and did the same to Southampton, so we'll try to make it as tough as possible."

With Bristol rugby union side sharing the ground, the Memorial Ground pitch has taken a pounding, which is going to challenge Albion's smooth passing game.

But Hinton stressed the bobbly surface poses a similar burden for the hosts.

"The pitch doesn't help us either because we're a footballing side who try to play it the right way, but it's hard on that pitch and sometimes we have to mix it up a bit," he said.